The meaning of life

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 19:29:55 +0530

As a teenager, I asked my mother “What is the aim of life?” She said, “To be happy and to make others happy.” This was my gospel for a decade. It made sense. It even aligned with my name (Anand = happiness).

In my twenties, I was confused that happiness has tradeoffs, like:

Long term (study hard) vs short term (party hard)
Self (e.g. save diligently) vs others (gift generously)
Getting what we like (e.g. favorite food, ambitiousness) vs liking what we get (e.g. any food, gratitude, lower standards)
Outcome (e.g. wealth) vs process (e.g. enjoying work)

By my thirties, I felt happiness is the intersection of pleasure and meaning. So I tried to be aware of and balance both.

In my forties, The Landmark Forum introduced me to the idea that life has no intrinsic meaning, so you can pick. So I tried to pick meanings, changing them with time.

In my fifties, I’m learning that the meaning of life can be viewed through many lenses, like:

Physiology: What the body wants
- Survive: The body wants to maintain homeostasis and stay alive.
- Enjoy: The body seeks pleasure and avoids pain (hedonic drive).
- Reproduce: Genes want to propogate the species.
Psychology: What the mind craves
- Connect: Build social bonds and connections to loved ones.
- Grow: Become the most that one can be. (Self-actualization, mastery, autonomy, purpose)
- Contribute: Create things that outlast us.
Philosophy: What the spirit seeks
- Serve divine will: Fulfil your divine purpose or duty (Theistic/Karmic).
- Live virtuously: Flourish through virtue, fulfilling your potential. (Virtue Ethics)
- Make your own meaning: Life has no intrinsic meaning. We tend to make up meanings. Accept it, pick a meaning, enjoy. (Nihilism/Absurdism/Existentialism)
- Be rational: Live according to reason and nature; accept what you can’t control (Stoicism).
- Maximize good: Maximize well-being for the greatest number (Utilitarianism).
- Serve people: Relieve suffering and help others.
- Transcend suffering: End suffering through detachment and the dissolution of ego (Buddhism).

I still believe there’s no intrinsic meaning. Just lenses.

We change lenses over time. E.g. I moved from strongly believing “Serve divine will” to not believing it.
We believe multiple lenses at a time. E.g. I “Enjoy” food but “Transcend suffering” by fasting. (In fact, fasting makes food more enjoyable.)
Lenses can conflict. Genes want to “Reproduce” but not all mothers “Survive” childbirth. Zealots who “Serve divine will” may “Serve people” against that will.

If that’s the case, I no longer know how to evaluate right or wrong, good or bad, in an objective sense. Maybe these have meaning only within a lens.

PS: In the mid-1990s, I made a list of things I wanted to write about and stored it on a floppy disk with the filename TOWRITE.TXT. This post was first on that list. After 30 years, I finally wrote it!

I'll leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's me

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 15:59:27 +0000

What a delightful idea.

I’ll leave tomorrow’s problems to tomorrow’s me.

– Saitama, One Punch Man

Saitama is now one of my favorite heroes. Right up there with Atticus Finch and Juror #8.

Very few people can articulate such a wonderful philosophy as effectively. The closest was Calvin.

Of course, it’s not a perfect system.

But they do say, “Sometimes, the best way to get something is to stop trying to get it.”

Ancient History Sourcebook

Sun, 01 Jul 2001 12:00:00 +0000

The Ancient History Sourcebook contains many ancient books in full-text (English), such as The Odyssey, The Code of Hammurabi, etc. Also included are the Manusmriti and Chanakya’s Arthashastra. Chanakya has also written a lesser known Niti Shastra.

Logical fallacies

Wed, 10 Jan 2001 12:00:00 +0000

Stephen’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies – a comprehensive list of common fallacies.

philosophy on S Anand

The meaning of life

I'll leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's me

Ancient History Sourcebook

Logical fallacies